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Soundcheck

Monday, September 30, 2002
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  • Galileo, Jazz, and Dancing in the Winter Garden

    In the 16th century, the astronomer Galileo became an outcast because he supported a controversial hypothesis about the planet’s importance: He, like Copernicus, believed that Earth revolved around the sun. Composer Philip Glass will be in to discuss his new opera based on Galileo’s life, which opens Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 20th Next Wave Festival on October 1. Bassist-composer Ben Allison stops by to talk about his Jazz Composers Collective, a non-profit that nurtures jazz artists, and to perform material from his new album with the band Peace Pipe. Plus, a conversation with choreographer Elisa Monte about bringing dance performance back to the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden after last year’s terrorist attacks.

Philip Glass, the foremost contemporary classical composer, has created award-winning music for a variety of productions ranging from musical theater and film, to concertos and operas incorporating Eastern musical elements.
More about Philip Glass

A leading figure in modern New York jazz, Ben Allison has emerged not as an educator and advocate for the arts. His latest album features the eclectic combination of bass, piano, saxophone, drums and kora.
More about Ben Allison and Peace Pipe

Elisa Monte started her dance company with the aim of using dance as a medium to communicate universal ideas, particularly through aesthetics and athleticism, with the numerous foreign audiences for whom the dancers perform.
More about Elisa Monte Dance

audience

Soundcheck Smackdown: When Contemporary Met Classical

Soundcheck

Like vegetables stuck into a delicious meal, contemporary classical music is forced on concert audiences before they are allowed to enjoy their Brahms. So says humorist, critic and author Joe Queenan. Today, Queenan and John Berry, Artistic Director with English National Opera, join us for a Soundcheck Smackdown debate on the merits of contemporary music.

musical clouds

You Are What You Hear

Soundcheck

Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi takes us through some of the most famously botched song lyrics in rock history. We’ll explore why the words we make up are usually more interesting than the real version. Then, listeners confess their favorite and most embarrassing reinvented lyrics.

Leave a comment: Give us your favorite set of misheard lyrics! Were you disappointed when you learned the actual words?

Rosanne Cash and Mark O'Connor

Soundcheck

For her, he was a father. For him, he was a boyhood hero. For the nation, he was an icon. Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash and composer and violinist Mark O'Connor join us to talk about how Johnny Cash has inspired their musical collaboration. And they will play live.

Katy

Soundcheck's Summer Song Poll

Soundcheck

Every year, popular and critical opinion somehow converge to settle on a "summer song." In 2007, it was Rihanna's "Umbrella." The year before, it was "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. The practice stretches back to the very dawn of pop radio. Yet defining the essence of a "summer song" is a bit elusive. We enlist the help of Blender editor at large Lizzy Goodman -- and of our Soundcheck listeners, in an online poll.

Cast your vote: Soundcheck's Summer Song Poll 2008

Can't decide? Check out audio and video clips of the contestants here.

Our blog: John Schaefer asks what makes a good summer song,

  1. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Democratic National Convention (08/25/2008)
  2. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from Denver (08/29/2008)
  3. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Democratic National Convention: Day 4 (08/28/2008)
  4. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Democratic National Convention: Day 3 (08/27/2008)
  5. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Democratic National Convention: Day 2 (08/26/2008)
  6. The Leonard Lopate Show: 1-2-3 (08/26/2008)
  7. The Leonard Lopate Show: Layered Look (08/27/2008)